


A catch in the wires

by orphan_account



Series: By the sweet and short I know you [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Blood, Connor Anderson, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Human!Connor, M/M, Mild Gore, Physical Abuse, Role Reversal, android!hank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 17:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15562491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Wrangling is the wrong word for what they have. And it doesn't get more clear with their first case.





	A catch in the wires

When they arrive at the residence of Carlos Ortiz the rain is coming down heavily. Detective Anderson’s car is what could charitably described as “a bit messy” and more accurately “a disaster zone in need of help from some sort of relief organization”. It’s piled with clothes, empty bottles, papers, and, dog hair. Thankfully nothing seems to be rotting in the mess so it has not quite reached the level of a bio hazard, but still.. This kid is a mess.

Connor claps him cheerfully on the leg, he’s had two more cups of coffee since they left the station. Somehow mastering the art of filling his mug while driving with his elbows, or he had attempted, until Hank took the mug and the thermos from him to avoid what would have been certain death in his opinion. The kid had just laughed at him. 

“let’s get in there Hank, this is your first time right?” he says cheerfully, Hank suspects the kid is approaching mania. He doesn’t see how that will be conductive to proper police work, but Connor’s arrest files are impressive and meticulous. Connor Is half way to the house before Hank gets out of the car.

He lifts his face briefly to feel the rain, it’s nice, cool little picks of water on his artificial skin, it’s his first time experiencing rain, he shouldn’t care, but, he revels in it none the less. 

By the door Connor greets the officer in charge of the scene “Collins! How’s it holding up!” he almost shouts over the rain. Ben Collins is a heavy set gray haired man, he looks two seconds away from cuffing Connor over the head for being a little shit, it would serve him right. “Jesus Christ Anderson, have some decorum, when the fuck was the last time you slept” he says irritably, Hank doesn’t have a log of when Connor slept last, he checks the employee log at the station.

Detective Connor Anderson has been clocked in for 16 hours.

Hank makes it up to stand besides Connor, the kid is fiddling with a cigarette, Hank snags it out of his hands “no smoking at the crime scene Detective” he says, Connor laughs again mussing up his own hair, he steals the cigarette back and tugs it playfully behind his ear. “gotcha Hank” He turns back to Collins.

“Ben, this is my partner, Hank” he says.

“an android?” Collins says, with evident confusion. 

“yep, some sort of new shit, so what we got Benny?”

Officer Collins scratches his nose with his notepad. “Carlos Ortiz, Male, 29 AA on file, and a few drug offences” Connor’s face is rapt with attention “red ice?” he asks, Collins nods “you got it, heavy user, apparently his landlord found him, its been more than a few days so hold your nose” Connor nods already on his way into the building before Collins adds, “he had an android, we haven’t found it yet, so take care kid” Connor waves him off, with a small smile.

 

The inside of the Ortiz residence is a mess of blood and forensics specialists, it’s dim and the only pools of light comes from the spot stands. Otiz himself is a decaying mound of blood and gore, it’s grizzly, the words painted in blood red on the wall even more so “I AM ALIVE” says Connor, he looks like he’s chewing on the words, eyes squinting at them like they are hard to see. The words are in perfect standard Cyberlife font.

A number of objectives pop up in Hank’s vision, he ignores them for a moment to watch Connor, the kid is fiddling with the cigarette again. “put that shit away Detective” Hank says.

Connor catches himself and gives him one of his cheeky grins, “it’s Connor Hank, just Connor” his smile is bright, even among all this misery. The kid is 30% coffee at this point so Hank dismisses it as excess energy and focuses on his tasks. Connor fucks off to chat up some of the forensics, it becomes pleasant background noise as Hank works.

The clues lead him into the kitchen where Connor catches up with him, “found anything Hank? Also did you lick something? Maria said she saw you lick something?” he says, he looks concerned but still with that cheerful energy.

“I have the ability to analyze chemical samples in real time” Hank says and sticks his tongue out a little. Connor seems delighted, and apparently takes it as an invitation to grab his tongue and examine it. Hank doesn’t know a lot of humans, but he is fairly sure this is not normal behavior. He gives Connor a little shove and a stern look.

Connor doesn’t apologize and instead turns his head back to the kitchen.

“so, tell me what happened here Hank, what are we looking at?” his face is now serious, all folded in on it-self and observing, it’s an obvious command.

Hank takes him through the scene, the android grabbing the knife and going to town on Ortiz. Connor nods along apparently satisfied. Hank has a feeling he is being tested a little bit. To be fair it is only his second time doing this, and Connor, despite his age, is a veteran. 

“nice job Hank always knew you types were gonna knock our socks off with this stuff” he looks a little, sad, regretful. But unlike most humans there is no anger there. When Connor looks up at him again from where he was staring at the floor, there’s a little hint of, pride? In his brown eyes. It’s.. Hank doesn’t know what to do with that.

Humans, as far as he can glean from the news, and the crude comments from Detective Reed, are not welcoming to his kind. Hank doesn’t personally care, he’s here to do his job, and maybe make sure that Detective Anderson doesn’t throw himself down a ditch or die of caffeine poisoning. But that’s as far as his opinions take him. 

Connor pats him on the arm and goes back to the living room, leaving Hank to examine the blood trail, the one that the humans can’t observe. There’s a distinct pattern of thirium leading away from the kitchen further into the house.

The android never left, it’s still here.

He trails it to the bathroom, there’s a disturbing scene there, RA9 scrawled on the walls, and a statue. Forensics have already logged it, so Hank dismisses it, it’s just strange, it won’t take him to the android.

The trail leads him towards the attic. 

It’s dusty and dark up there, if he were human he would probably sneeze.

He finds Ortiz’s android in the back, cowering and stressed, it’s LED is a solid red.

Shit. 

“please, don’t tell them I’m up here” it says. Hank glances towards the attic opening, nobody has noticed he’s gone up here, there’s no alarm. So, he hunches down to eyelevel with the HK400, trying to make himself less of a threat, it’s hard, why the hell did his makers make him so fucking big.

“take it easy, nobody is telling anybody anything yet, they don’t know I’m up here, nothing is happening” Hank says, he keeps his voice calm, and low.

The HK400 eyes flicker, its respiration is up, indicating trouble cooling itself, it’s probably more than a little damaged.

“do you have a name?” Hank asks.

“no, he just called me android, when he wasn’t beating me, then he had other names” the delivery is bitter and comes out through clenched teeth.

“alright, how about Annan?” It’s the name given to the fourth son, in certain languages spoken in Ghana.

HK400, now Annan, nods, hesitantly. 

“who are you? You work for them?” Annan says.

“My name is Hank, I work for the DPD, those are the guys downstairs, trying to figure out what happened to your owner” Annan shifts, his eyes are now more steadily on Hank, LED still red, but it’s an improvement. 

“please, don’t tell them you found me, please, just leave” Annan says, begging, Christ, Ortiz did a number on him, burn marks all along his arms, circular, from cigarettes. Hank’s mouth twists, this fucking sucks.

“look kid, I’m sorry, but there’s no way out this, they’re gonna find you.” Annan twist, his fists are clenched tightly on his thighs.

“Not if you don’t say anything, tell them you didn’t find anything!” Hank holds up his hand in a shushing motion but it’s too late. 

“Hank?” Comes Connors voice, shit, shit, shit. There’s the sound of feet on the ladder, and Connors little head pops curiously over the edge. He sees the other android immediately and swings him self up. 

“ah, good work Hank” he says, the light smile on his face is tight and more plastic than Hank is, his hand is lightly shifted towards his holster, not drawing it, but ready.

“sitrep Hank” Connor says, light and breezy, he has two androids watching him wearily. Hank sighs and stands up, “yeah everything is clear Detective” Annan has covered his face with his hands, LED a solid red.

 

Outside the rain has calmed down to a drizzle, pleasant and cooling. Hank wishes he could find some calm in it, but nothing about this sits right with him. Annan might be a deviant, but he was just defending himself, humans are fucking garbage.

The scene is packing up, and Annan is being loaded into a police car. Everything is cast in blue and red light circling and refracting against the rain. Connor is chatting with Collins, getting the last details wrapped up. He already has a lit cigarette in his hands, it sizzles every time the rain hits it, Hank wonders if it made the same sound on Annan’s skin.

Connor shakes Collins hand in a tight little jerky motion and bounds up to Hank.

“Come on Hank, let’s get to the station, maybe we can catch Reed on the graveyard and get the brief started” Connors voice is slightly horse, more than usual, his shoulders are stiff. 

It’s 12:45 PM, Detective Connor Anderson has been on duty for 17 hours.

Connor is already on his way to his car, and Hank makes a choice. He can’t get any work done if his partner can’t think straight. And also the kid looks like he’s going to drop where he stands.

Hank reaches out grabs Connor tightly by the arm. Stopping him in his little hopping track towards the car. 

“hold on Detective” Hank says. Connor looks down at where Hank has grabbed him, wrinkling the lines of his dark blue suit jacket. There’s a lot of muscle there, but he can feel the slight tremor of a body that’s being pushed beyond what it should be.

“what’s up Hank?” Connor says, his smile is tight, and there’s a warning there, in his eyes, ‘don’t push it’. Hank hasn’t been activated long enough to give a shit about stuff like that, and his partner is no good to him dead.

“I think you should head home, get some rest” Hank says “you look like crap” he adds, tries for a little humor. Connor shifts closer, gets in his personal space, he doesn’t relax his grip. Connor’s smile has a few too many teeth.

“are you giving me an order, Hank?” Connor’s voice is soft and wondering but his body is full of tension. Before it had been unfocused, but now its all directed at Hank. The air between them feels charged, like a lightning strike is about to come down and fry them both. Connor’s face is turned up at him, it’s speckled with little drops of sliding rain, running over his moles and dragging tracks down his cheeks, his skin looks soft, but the air about him is anything but. 

Hank experimentally tightens his grip, tugs him just that little bit closer. Connor goes willingly, body shifting under Hanks hands, his pupils are blown, iris’s forming slim brown rings around the dark pits. Something inside Hank shudders as Connor’s lips part. He feels caught, like a fly in a web, forever suspended, each motion bringing doom closer.

Connor’s smile turns soft as he learns closer, Hank can count his eyelashes, the soft dark spots that littler his face like stars. His grip, slackens. 

He’s shoved away forcefully.

His processor stutters, in surprise. Connor’s laugh is bright and dancing. They are still within arm’s length, but the tension has cracked, Connor is smiling, his brown eyes twinkling and daring Hank to say a single thing, so he doesn’t. Connor runs a hand though his wet hair, it’s curling slightly at the tips.

“alright Hank, maybe you’re on to something” Connor says, “after all I can’t have you lugging around someone unattractive!” he’s tossing his car keys playfully in his hand, his bottom lip is caught slightly on his teeth.

“you got somewhere to go tonight?” he asks, Hank doesn’t and shakes his head.

“guess you’re coming home with me then!” he’s already walking towards the car. Hank gives himself a little shake, this fucking kid. He closes his eyes and enjoys the rain on his skin for a brief moment, little pricks of cool pressure, then, he follows.

**Author's Note:**

> Semi Beta'd by River, who is wonderful but busy, so forgive me.
> 
> All Comments and Kudos are welcome, you are all a treasure to me!
> 
> Notes:  
> here, AA is shorthand for Aggravated Assault.


End file.
